


Enchanted

by genericfanatic



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Asami - Freeform, Enchanted AU, Fantasy AU, Fantasy child neglect, Korrasami - Freeform, Lin Beifong - Freeform, M/M, Modern AU, Queen Hou-Ting, a little bit of opal, also featuring:, bolin - Freeform, korra - Freeform, like a hint of tangled, no research or betas we die like fanfic authors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27610523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genericfanatic/pseuds/genericfanatic
Summary: Prince Wu lives in a fantasy world full of magic and wonder....that he’s never get to see, locked away in a tower. Just as he’s freed and allowed to go explore, he falls into a whole new world, that is possibly even stranger.Mako is a defense attorney in New York that has his life pulled together with string and a lot of hope. He gets by with extensive planning, and any wonder in his life is more to be feared than admired. This carefully balanced collection is knocked asunder when he meets a stranger outside of his building with a strange amount of belief in magic.
Relationships: Mako/Prince Wu (Avatar)
Comments: 32
Kudos: 42





	1. Once upon a time

“Once upon a time,  
Time not far from now I’m sure,  
I’ll be at my prime  
And go on a worldwide tour.

I’ll see a million things  
And go to lands far and wide.  
Meet other queens and kings  
And most importantly my bride!

She’ll sweep me off my feet,  
And take me down from this tower  
When she and my Aunt meet,  
Surely she’ll let go of her--”

“Stop that racket, boy!”

Wu shut up quickly, rushing away from the window to sit on his lounging chair.

The door burst open and Dai Li agents stormed in, flanking the Queen. “Hello, Auntie Hou-Ting!” Wu said, in his cheeriest voice, “You’re looking well today!”

“Hush,” the Queen sneered, then paused dramatically. After a moment she let out a horrendous sneeze, royal snot flying over the floorboards. 

Wu winced at the noise, keeping his hands clasped together, “Bless you, your Majesty.”

One of the agents quickly offered her a handkerchief which she took before turning on Wu. “There is an animal somewhere in this palace.”

Wu blinked, staying very still. “I don’t...I don’t know what you mean, your Majesty,” he said, “There’s certainly nothing in here, how could I bring an animal in here at all?” It wasn’t as though he was ever allowed to leave this tower. Sure, he had seen many drawings of animals in his books, and there had been specks in the forest far below, but he was never allowed to be near one. Nor any people, really, either. 

Hou-Ting glared at him, as though he had called her mean (like the one time he had when he was very young and pushed on by a book encouraging you to stand up for yourself. That book had been swiftly removed from his small personal library.) She didn’t speak to him, though, he wasn’t due that. “Search the room, find where whatever rodent has hidden away.”

Wu looked down into his lap, holding his hands as the Dai Li agents tore into what few possessions he had. At least he would have something to do today, trying to repair the damage. He only hoped they didn’t rip the pages again, fixing that made the books all but unreadable. 

He only looked up when he noticed the agents going for the wall with the loose stone. “Oh, you shouldn’t go for that!” He announced, getting the attention of everyone in the room. He gulped, “It’s just, don’t want you to hit your head.” He smirked, trying to seem innocent. 

Despite his wishes, the agent pulled out the brick, and a bird flew straight out. 

Queen Hou-Ting yelled. “AAh! Kill it! Shoot it, shoot it, shoot it!”

The bird circled the room in a panic, cawing angrily. “This way!” Wu yelled at the bird, “fly this way, over here!” He pointed aggressively to the window.

The bird shot through the window and flew out through the sky. Wu breathes a sigh of relief, watching it grow smaller in the distance.

The distance was short lived as a dai-li agent grabbed him by the arms and pulled him away, dropping him on his knees on the floor before the Queen.

The Queen sneered at him, which really just allowed Wu to see all her nose hairs. “You brought an animal in here?”

Wu shook his head violently back and forth, “no, no I didn’t!”

“You’re trying to kill me, is that it?!”

“Of course not, Aunt Hou-Ting! It just—it flew in and I thought—“

“Perhaps you thought you’d take the throne from me before my time?!” She bent over and he could smell the awful perfumes she used.

“No, My Queen,” he said, “I love you, I’d never hurt you! Please, it just flew in!”

“Stop whining!” She yelled. As a prince, they weren’t allowed to harm him in any way, but he flinched none the less. “You shall have no meals for a week!” He couldn’t help the scowl. Luckily, he’s stashed away some food since last time, but a week would really dig into his stores. “Oh, don’t whine. You’re getting fat anyway, and—“

She hesitated at the sound of footsteps. She turned to see a dai li agent entering the room. He approached her after she nodded, and whispered something in her ear.

She turned away and headed for the door without addressing him any longer. He stayed stiff on the floor, eyes down, as the dai li agents filed out behind her. He didn’t know what other state of business had taken her attention, but as they closed the door behind them, he breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes the yelling could take hours, or it felt like it anyway. 

Wu made his way back to the crevice in the wall, picking the stone back up. “At least they didn’t see you little ones,” he said, pushing some of the debris aside to see the 3 small baby birds inside. They all squealed like he was their mama. “Oh, oh, shhh, babies!” he urged them, “Aunt could be back any minute! I’m sure your mama will bring you breakfast, just be patient.” 

He reached into his stores of food. He had some toast from a few days ago. “Here, have some crumbs,” he said, crumbling it up to feed, “hopefully that should hold you over until she comes back.” The small birds ate up the crumbs eagerly, and then ate the toast himself.

He gave a tremendous sigh and then got to work repairing the damage. “Once upon a time,” he sang to himself, “a time that seems so far from now, I’ll hear the bells chime, and I’ll be free, but don’t know how.”

He picked up his books, putting them in precise order. “What will I see there? A dazzling jester in full ‘stume? Or a smith with flair? Perhaps a knight who fights the doom?”

He looked around his small little room. He hung his head, just as he heard a bird call. He smiled, the bird in the wall had returned. She perched on his finger and sang in harmony to his song.

“But for now I’ll wait, here in my tower up on high. I trust in my fate, to bring me answers in the sky!” He let the bird go, sending her back up into the swirling clouds above. She circled, cawing beautifully as he held his last note. 

Just as he was ready to return to a day of drudgery, a loud crash made him duck. He dived for the floor, “Wu down! Wu down!” , but as he remained seemingly alive, he peeked through his arms.

The door had been smashed to the ground. Well, more than the door, the wall around it had come completely loose, crumbled in dust spread along the floor. In its wake, a woman stood, shining in blue light.

Wu looked up at her in awe. Her eyes were glowing, and her hair fluttering around her. She was floating in mid-air.

Like she was stepping through a veil she walked into the room she had broken through. The glow faded and she looked down on him with piercing blue eyes. Her mouth was moving, but he couldn’t hear her words, as she approached and knelt above him, only two words echoed in his head.

“Hey,” she said, touching his shoulder, “did you hear me? I asked if there were any more wizards being kept up here.”

He had no idea what she was talking about, he could only tremble, vibrating with excitement. The words repeated over and over in his mind, until they finally reached his mouth, “my savior!”

She blinked at him. “What?”

Her name was Korra, and she was a powerful arch wizard, hidden away and raised outside the kingdom in the cold mountains.

Wu had known Magic was forbidden in the kingdom, but didn’t know the extent to which they were hunted, captured, and kept here in the palace right along with him. 

Korra and the other wizards had come to overthrow the Queen and save the wizards. They had not been expecting to save the prince along with her. “This is excellent,” Tenzin, the head wizard who served as Korra’s teacher said, “with the Crown Prince amenable to our cause, we can wed you to him, declare magic legal again, and create a realm of peace for all magic users.”

“What was that first part?” Korra said, raising an eyebrow. 

Wu smiled at her, completely enamored, “oh don’t worry, Gentle Maiden!” Wu said, trying to replicate the manner he had read about in books by taking her hand, “though we come from very different worlds, know that my love for you is true! With your help, together we can make this kingdom a wonder for all!”

“Uh-huh,” Korra said, humbly pulling her hand away. He had heard people were intimidated by royalty, but he would prove to her there was no need and she had every right to be his Queen.

“Korra,” Tenzin said, “over here.” He pulled her aside to talk about some wizardly thing or other.

Wu looked around wandering. He couldn’t believe it! He was on the ground. He hadn’t been here for years. The grass was far more detailed than he remembered, not just a soft surface of one shade of green, but interspersed with beautiful yellows and browns dotted with the rich dark soil beneath. 

He walked through the gardens, pristinely kept by his aunt. They had been ruined in the invasion, or at least, trampled and overgrown. Wu thought they looked a bit better, the vines breaking through, fighting to live despite everything in its path. 

He came across a squirrel, grabbing at some fallen nuts from the tree. The squirrel looked up, and stared at him, cheeks full of nuts. 

It dashed across the lawn, as fast as it’s tiny legs could carry it, which wasn’t particularly far. “It’s ok!” Wu called after it, reaching into the dirt, “here, you can come back! You don’t have to run anymore!”

He knelt on the ground, holding up the nut. The squirrel paused, staring back at him. Hesitant, it took a few tiny steps towards him. When nothing bad happened, he took a few more, and more untilhe was at Wu’s feet. Wu offered the nut to him, which he reluctantly took and chewed on. Realizing it was good, he chomped it all down, bulging his cheeks and then swallowing. He rubbed against Wu’s hand, looking for more.

Wu chuckled, feeling the fur against his fingers. It was so soft yet rough at the same time. He loved it more than if it had just been soft, it was textured. It was real. 

The squirrel squeaked and jumped out of his hand, running away. “Hey!” Wu said, watching him go, “Come back! It’s alright!” 

The squirrel paid him no mind, and so he pursued. “You left your nuts behind!” he said, trying to keep up. 

The squirrel did not slow, and was far more agile than the prince. Wu found himself tumbling over a vine, down into a pit of many vines.

He picked himself up, only to encounter a shining pillar of light, or maybe just a brightly shimmering pool. Tenzin and Korra has described magic pools like this, they had even been essential for usurping the Queen. But they said it took ages to make one, he didn’t know there were any on the palace grounds. 

He leaned over to get a better look. He knew he should go find Korra to deal with it, but there was something so...beautiful about it. 

He reached his hand to the surface of the pool. He wasn’t sure if he should touch it, but it just seemed to call him. He could feel cool spray from it that tingled on his skin, but it was not cold. It felt like a home.

He curled his hand pulling away. No, he needed to find Korra and—

Before he could turn, he felt a shove from behind and he fell face-forward into the pond.

The tingling sensation covered him, sinking into his skin. It started to burn, but he couldn’t scream, and the world turned to darkness.

“He’s nuts.”

“He’s a genius!”

“Doesn’t make him not nuts.”

Bolin scowled at his older brother. Mako scowled right back. No way could Bolin out-scowl him, Mako was an expert. 10,000 hours in anything, right.

Bolin gave in with a sigh. “You just don’t understand modern performance art.”

“Well that’s certainly true,” Mako agreed, “but this Varrick guy seems like he’s on a whole extra level of weird.”

“He’s one of the best directors I’ve ever worked with.” Bolin protested, stepping around a pile of trash someone had left on the ground.

Mako stopped, picking the bag up and tossing it into the can. “He’s the only Director you’ve worked with,” Mako said, “unless you’re counting Mrs. Lee in 3rd grade.”

“Second,” Bolin corrected. Right. He hadn’t gone to third. Mako himself stopped at fourth. “And that’s not the point. He’s willing to take a chance on me, even without experience.”

“Right. Which is why you’re an understudy,” Mako said dryly. 

The words hit harder than he meant, and he watched Bolin flinch. Mako sighed, softening his face. “I just mean, I want better for you.” He swallowed, wondering if he dared...well of course he did, why have just one foot in your mouth when you could have two? “Have you...thought any more about school?”

“Oh sure,” Bolin said, “and get about two hours of sleep a night like you did?”

Mako sighed, “I was working full time while working,” he said, “not to mention caring for your bratty teen ass.” Bolin scowled at him. Mako was unimpressed. “It won’t be like that for you. I can support you.”

Bolin shook his head, “school just...isn’t for me. I want to get real life experience.”

“Under Varrick?” Mako asked, disbelieving. He supported Bolin, he did not trust Varrick as far as he could throw him. Or maybe as far as Varrick could throw HIM.

“Yes, with Varrick,” Bolin said, “and the other actors, there’s a lot of great people there. There’s this one girl who’s really nice and we hang out a lot…” he started grinning that Bolin smile that meant trouble.

“Oh god,” Mako said, burying his head in his hand, “it’s not that Ginger whatever-her-name-is, is it?”

“Ah, no.” Bolin said. At least he had the decency to look embarrassed. “No, that was a disaster.”

“Not as bad as the girl before,” Mako said, mostly to himself.

“Hey, not everyone just decides to settle with the first girlfriend they have and live in monotony,” Bolin nudged Mako for his wallet, nodding at a homeless man sitting in the street. Mako nodded in return, taking a ten from his wallet and handing it to the man before walking on, just waving away the “thank you!”

“Asami and I do not live in ‘monotony,’” Mako protested, “We’re exciting people.” 

“No, Asami’s an exciting person,” Bolin said, “and though little brother code forbids me, I will breach it to say you can be cool. But together you turn into like, drones.”

“We’re responsible,” Mako said, “we both have a lot of responsibilities and so we have to plan things out carefully.”

“Ugggh,” Bolin groaned, “you sound like an old grandpa.”

“I sound like an adult,” Mako said, “that’s what relationships really are. Just, making plans together.”

Bolin scrunched up his nose in disgust. “You make love sound like an insurance merger.”

“Love isn’t like in the fairy tales, Bolin.” He said, “I didnt know you didn’t like Asami.”

“I LOVE Asami,” Bolin said, “but I think she deserves something more like a fairytale. And honestly, I think you do too.”

Mako sighed. This was his ‘I think you’re wrong but if I said in words all the reasons why, you’d call me a monster’ sigh. He had a lot of sighs. “Asami and I are perfectly happy.”

“Are you?” Bolin asked.

Mako turned to face him, ready to snap, but saw the look on his face was not ‘annoying little brother’ but ‘concerned brother.’ He usually made that face back when Mako was in college, and debating if he needed to go to the hospital, and if he could even afford it. 

He sighed and let it go. This was his, ‘I love you so I’ll calm down and you won’t call an ambulance’ sigh. 

Just as he was scrambling for what to say next, he turned the corner and found himself distracted by an odd sight. There was a man, dressed like Bolin when he’d had that stint at a Ren fair, trying to scale their building. 

“Hey!” Mako called up to him, “what are you doing?”

The man turned to look down, and in doing so lost his precarious hold of the loose bricks, and started tumbling down.

Mako swore and leapt forward, going to grab him. The man knocked him full on the ground, making Mako get the wind knocked out of him. 

The man sat up, but did not GET up off of Mako. Mako got on his elbows, which were surely scraped. “What the hell did you think you were doing?!” He demanded.

The man only smiled wide at him, throwing his arms around his shoulders and cried, “My savior!”


	2. Lost, Scared, Tired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wu wanders this terrifying and strange new land.
> 
> Mako questions his life choices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, forgot to mention in the last chapter: I'm going to try writing a song for each chapter. Well, it's rhyming words set in rhythm, so it's more like poetry, but maybe someday I'll record myself as to what I think the melody sounds like. 
> 
> Anywho, Enjoy!

Wu found himself in a…

In a….

Well, he didn’t really know what he was in. 

It seemed like some sort of pathway, or road, like in his books. But it wasn’t anything like he thought. The stone ground was black as the sky above. The arches above his head were made of some sort of metal with lights coming from them, some flashing different lights. On either side there were towers, surrounding him and sprawling out on all sides. 

Ahead, there was a light, two lights in fact, coming towards him. He cocked his head. It was large, like some sort of beast. Maybe a lion? He read those had glowing eyes. He held out his hand, “hey, its ok kitty. Come here, please don’t eat me.” The lion kept charging at him, smooth as a carriage. “Slow down kitty! It’s ok! You don’t need to be afraid!”

“Get outta the road ya crazy bastard!” the lion yelled back. The lion swerved out of the way, just as Wu finally jumped for safety. He blinked. It was not a lion at all, but some form of...carriage? With a man inside, but no horses to pull it. The man was shaking his fist at him, and then going on. 

Wu blinked, looking around. Another one was coming to him. Without trying to calm this one, he ran as fast as he could, which, admittedly wasn’t very fast. He made it to the side of the tower.

The tower was….wet. Or no, sticky, with some strange substance. He pulled away, his hands black. He tried to wipe them off on a metal box, but the dirt only got worse!

A man bumped into him, and Wu just barely managed to stay standing. “Oh! Oh excuse me, could you help me.”

“Don’t have anything,” the man said, pushing past and headed out, quickening his pace. He was dressed so strange. 

“No, please,” Wu said, “Listen to me, I just need some idea of where I am, please. Um, Sir? Gentle knight, please come back!” 

The man didn’t pause. Wu chased after him, but his shoes were not really meant for chasing, and he was clearly adept at moving quickly. 

He came across more people. “Excuse me!” he said, “Has anyone um, seen the Wizard Korra, maybe? Can you take me to her? Or, uh, maybe Tenzin?” He looked around but no one made eye contact or stopped. The most courtesy people showed was to step around him, but some didn’t even do that. 

“Has anyone seen the tower at least?” He said, “It’s, um, by the palace? At the edge of the Dark forest? Please, ANYONE?! OH!” He started getting pulled along by the throng of people, stuck amongst sweaty limbs and their carrying case. 

They took him down a screaming tunnel, filled with more beasts traveling to and from. “Ticket?” He was asked.

“Oh, no,” he said, “Can’t you tell me how to get to the Tower?”

“No ticket, no entry,” The man said, and directed him to the exit. 

There was a stairway back up to the light, back...back to the stone and grit and terrifying beast-carriages. Where was he? Where was the gardens? Oh, maybe his great-aunt had been right all along him, he didn’t belong here in this big world. 

Eyes filled with tears, he stumbled forward. A lone man sat on the corner. “Hey,” he said, “I can help ya.”

Wu sniffled, “Really?” he said.

“Yeah,” the man said, smiling, “You wanna DVD?” He motioned to the table before him, covered in strange boxes. 

“Oh, um,” he said, swallowing his disappointment, “will that help me?”

“Yeah, of course!” he said, “Whatcha want, I got uh, Frozen, Ralph Wrecks the internet, an’ uh, The Good Dinosaur, how ‘bout that one.”

Wu nodded, not understanding in the least. “Well. If the dinosaur’s good, I suppose I’ll take that one.” 

“Great!” he said, “Just $10!”

Wu quirked his head. “I’m sorry?”

“$10. You know, Cash. I ain’t got one of those credit readers.”

“Oh, no,” Wu shook his head, “I don’t have any money.”

The man’s face melted into a scowl. “What are you doing, wasting my time then!” He said, “Go on, get outta here, crazy foreigner! Go on, before I call ICE on ya!” 

“Oh, please don’t call down an ice storm!” he said. He knew Korra could control those. This must be another wizard.

“Then SCRAM!” the man yelled. Wu turned on his heel and did just that, running as far and as fast as his legs could carry him. 

He ended up in another stone road, this one completely empty. He took a shuddered breath, trying not to cry, so he did what he always did. He sang. 

“Lost, without another soul around.  
Lost, without any hope to be found.   
Aunt always said I’m too small and weak  
And here I am, not a bite to eat  
As I curl up here on the ground.

Scared, all the beasts of the night are real.  
Scared, and the fear becomes all I can feel.  
I wanted a journey, adventure   
But instead I am stuck and unsure  
Hurt in ways I don’t know how to heal.

Tired, after all this time I’m just  
Tired. I thought I was ready but  
It turns out the world’s too big for me  
I can’t even go back to old misery  
It turns out the pain’s all I can trust”

He looked out up at the skyline. Above him was a star, not a sky full, but a single star. He walked towards it. It seemed to shine over one tower. He looked up, and up, and up, to the highest tower he had yet seen. 

He didn’t really know what the outside of his old tower looked like. Maybe this was it? Or maybe he’d be able to see where his tower was if he got up high enough. 

He came to the door, but it was jammed shut, no matter how hard he tried to push and pull it open. Ok, he’d read this book, he knew how to do this. 

Clearing his throat, he called up, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” 

No one in the building responded. “Hm,” he said, “Maybe a different, uh, “Princess? Princess of another name, perhaps? Anyone with just really long hair? Or a beard, I’m honestly not picky.” 

Still, no one responded. 

He took a deep breath. “Alright,” He said, “I’m a prince, I can do this. I’ll come to you!

With that, he looked at the brick outerwall. The heroes in his stories did this all the time, it couldn’t be too hard. He reached as high as he could, finding an outcropping. Ok, see? He could do this! 

“Lost,” he sang to himself, “But soon to be found.” His foot tripped on the bricks, making him scramble for purchase, but he made it up a little further. “Scared, so high off the ground. Tired, I just can’t look--”

He looked down. He gasped, muscles seizing up. He wasn’t far up, not really, but far enough. If he fell he’d die, he knew, but he didn’t know how to go any further up. He was stuck, and his muscles would soon give out. He didn’t know what to do, he wished Korra was here, he wished ANYONE--

“Hey!” A voice called behind him. “What are you doing?”

At the sound of the voice he started to fall. This was it, he knew it--

Someone caught him. Someone was there, beneath him, had SAVED him. “My savior!” 

“What the hell?” Was Mako’s only response, pushing the strange man off of his lap, “What is your PROBLEM?”

“Oh, thank you for asking!” Wu said, “I desperately need help, I’m trying to find my tower.”

“You mean your apartment building?” Bolin asked, offering him a hand to stand up. Mako got up under his own power, “Where do you live?”

“Up at the palace, outside the dark forest and by the small village,” The man said, completely straight-faced. 

Mako and Bolin blinked at him in disbelief. “Who ARE you?” Mako asked. 

The man put a hand to his chest and bowed. “Prince Wu Hou-Ting of the Earth Kingdom at your service, noble knight. I thank you dearly for your help, and, should you return me to my home, I’m sure my beloved, the Wizard Korra, will reward you handsomely for your services.”

The words washed over the brothers, making Mako’s face twist up in anger. As he opened his mouth to yell again, Bolin held up his hand. “Hold on, I speak Ren Faire,” he said, “So, this Korra is your girlfriend, right?” 

“Yes, my betrothed,” Wu said, “Together, we shall bring peace and harmony throughout the land.”

“Ok, now we’re getting somewhere,” Bolin said, “Do you have a number for her? Or, uh, messenger...pigeon?”

Wu sighed, “Alas, all the pigeons have been banned from my great-aunt’s land when she was queen. I don’t think they have yet returned.” Mako looked to Wu for translation. He shrugged, in a ‘I got nothing’ way. “I was hoping to reach the high point in this tower to try and see if I could find a way back to mine.”

Bolin brightened, “Oh, we can help with that!” he said, “Our apartments’ all the way at the top, if you want to take a look--”

Mako grabbed his brother by the mouth to quiet him, “What do you think you’re DOING?” he hissed at him. 

Bolin, predictably, licked his hand, but years of raising him had prepared Mako for this moment, and he held fast, even when Bolin started incorporating teeth. Mako turned to Wu while still wrestling, “I’m sorry, it’s late, and I have work tomorrow. We can’t just be letting people into our place, you understand.”

Wu deflated, “No, I don’t understand,” he said, “No one’s been willing to help me, and I’ve asked EVERYONE. But no matter which way I turn I meet nothing but cold indifference.”

Mako snorted, “Yeah, well, welcome to New York.” 

The man brightened slightly, “Thank you. That may be the first kind word anyone has said to me.” He took a deep sigh, “I suppose, I shall continue looking on foot. Farewell, gentle knights.”

Wu started to walk off, trudging slowly. Mako finally let Bolin go, who scowled at him. “What?”

“Come on, man!” Bolin said, “He’s going to end up sleeping on the street if we don’t help him out.” 

“We don’t know that,” Mako said, “He could find his Korra or whatever and…” Bolin hit him with The Look. “Don’t do that,” Mako urged him. The look only intensified. “Come on, you’re not a kid anymore, you can’t just go all wide-eyed and expect me to…” Bolin’s shoulders slumped, and his eyes somehow got bigger, looking up like a hungry dog at Mako. Turns out he really was learning some acting at that performance thing. 

Mako groaned and turned to Wu’s retreating back. “Hey!” he called, “You can come have a look around, all right? But in the morning you gotta head out.”

With amazing speed, considering how slowly he had trudged away, Wu returned, hugging Mako tightly, “Oh, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Really, I appreciate it so much, I promise I’ll have you rewarded with the finest jewels in all the kingdom and--”

“Alright, alright!” Mako said, pulling out of the surprisingly nice hug considering how bony the other man was. “Come on, I mean it about needing to go to bed.”

“It’s a room that levitates???” Wu said, pacing back and forth in the elevator, “Is it operated by a wizard? Or is there maybe a dragon below us who’s pushing the room up?”

“It’s just an elevator,” Mako said, “It runs on electricity or something. You just push the button and go where you want.”

“Really?” Wu said, earnestly, and Mako’s wondered if he was truly insane, or just playing a bit. “Where else does it go?” and before either brother could stop him, he had pressed practically every button on their apartment elevator.

At each level where the elevator doors opened, Mako’s eye twitched.

“These lamps are very strange,” Wu said as Mako all but pushed him through the hallway once they finally reached their floor, “How are the flames so still?”

“It’s just a light bulb,” Mako told him, “More electricity.”

“Fantastic!” Wu said, “Oh, this Electricity must be a very powerful Wizard! I wonder if they’d be willing to meet with Korra, she knows ever so much about magic.”

Mako finally reached their apartment and pulled out his keys, decency preventing him from questioning if he was mad or fucking around, but he was regretting allowing him inside more and more. 

Once inside, Wu flitted to the window, looking out into the night and taking a deep gasp. “Oh, my goodness!”

“Do you see your place?” Bolin asked.

“No!” Wu said, still eager, “It’s far too dark. But LOOK out there! Are those fairies?” 

Mako frowned, pushing past him to see out the window. “It’s just the city lights.”

“Oh, I’ve never seen them before,” Wu said, “They’re so beautiful! I didn’t know there could be so much light at night!”

“Yeah,” Mako said, closing the window curtains, “Loads of light pollution. Lovely.” He sighed, looking over Wu and wondering what exactly to do with him. “Look,” Mako said, “You don’t SEEM like you’re about to take off with our valuables, so I’ll give you this: you can stay here tonight. JUST tonight, and you’ll stay out here, and you’ll stay quiet. I wasn’t kidding about work tomorrow.” He was already home late, so this was just asking for disaster. “There’s some snacks in the fridge, and we’ll get you a couple blankets, but you stay on the couch, ok?”

Wu wrapped his arms around him and squeezed tightly. “Thank you,” He said, “This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

Mako blinked, holding his arms up awkwardly. He exchanged a look with Bolin, who seemed to be laughing at him.

“Ok, ok,” Mako said, pushing Wu by the shoulders off of him, “Look, I’m really not a hugger, ok?” Wu tilted his head, like he was speaking some kind of foreign language. “Ugh, lets just...get you that blanket, alright?”

As Wu tucked himself into the couch, and he ensured Bolin locked his bedroom door (just in case) he thought about how he would try and explain this to cops in the morning if he DID get robbed. He was pretty sure he would be laughed at off the phone for letting in this potential robber and giving him free reign of his apartment, all because his brother gave him puppy dog eyes, not to mention his instincts telling him it was ok, just because the guy was cute.

He was too tired to process that particular thought, so he let it go and slept. He was going to need the mother of all coffees tomorrow, he just knew it.


	3. The Golden Rule

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wu has a pleasant morning in a new place with new people. Mako has a distinctly less pleasant morning.

The first thing Wu noticed when he woke up was that he was not in his tower. He didn’t remember the last time he hadn’t woken up in his tower.

The memories quickly came back to him as he sat up on the couch. The sunlight came streaming through the window. Quickly, he rushed to see the new view, now in the daylight. 

One thing was for sure, he was nowhere near the castle and his tower anymore. He didn’t even know if he was anywhere near the EARTH Kingdom anymore. 

There were towers, towers as far as the eye could see, big, small, and in every shape. Many were covered in boards with strange pictures of people holding up lotion to recommend people buy them, and other such things. The roads were full of those carriages, in strange colors, and all the way down there, there were people, smaller than ants walking around. 

He smiled, watching the skyline, the way the horizon changed starkly into the blue sky. Something flew through the sky, gliding without even flapping its wings. 

Wu pressed himself up to the glass, until his breath created fog and he couldn’t see anymore. He turned back to the room, and his heart sank. 

He hadn’t really noticed last night, but the room was….a mess. There were clothes, blankets, trash and even food tossed around like snow on a field. It looked like when Wu thought one time that if he made enough of a mess his great aunt would be forced to move him out of the room, or at least pay some form of attention to him. It didn’t work, she was perfectly willing to let him live in mess.

He sighed. Since this Mako and Bolin had been so kind as to allow him to stay the night when he was so lost, he supposed it was only right for him to repay them best he could. He was decent at cleaning at least. 

He started with the blankets, that was easy to do, fold and put aside. As he was going along, he heard scratching. He thought for a moment it was in one of the rooms that the brothers had disappeared to, but it seemed closer and quieter. Perhaps it was from the floor below? 

He picked up some strange boxes made of thin-wood, full of a cheesy bread dish, and discovered a rat crawling on the floor, chewing on the strange food. “Oh goodness!” he said, “What do we have here, little friend?” He held out his hand. The rat was cautious, pulling the food towards him, but Wu remained steady.

The rat took a step towards him, and another, and finally climbed up into his hand. “It’s not nice to go digging through other people’s food, especially not of someone so nice as Mako and Bolin. Here,” Wu looked around. “Mako DID say I could have some food in the fridge…” 

He went over to the white box filled with cold food, carrying the little rat. Inside he found some cheese, wrapped in something that looked like glass, but felt as thin and bendable as paper. It took a minute to find an opening, and then he gave it to the rat. “There you are, now off you go. I have a lot of work to do.”

He put the rat down, who went racing off with the slice of cheese in his mouth. Wu smiled. It was good to have animals around, in this strange new place. He went back to cleaning the mess, grabbing the trash and tossing it through the window, as he had done in his old tower. 

As he wiped his hands clean, he looked down, to see that his friend the rat had returned. As had a number of his friends. “Oh my,” he said, blinking down at them all, “You all want food, don’t you?” they pressed in on him. “You see, the thing is, this isn’t MY home, and I don’t want to impose too much, you know.” They stared up at him, blankly. 

Wu sighed, “Hmm, maybe we can work something out.” He went to the cold box again, grabbing some more cheese. The rats looked up, excited, “Now now,” he said, “Here’s how this will go:

“I’ll do a favor for you,” he sang to the rats, holding up the cheese. The rats perked. “If you do one for me too.” The rats sank, “Because that’s what we do, yes friends, that’s the golden rule!” 

The rats looked to each other, and then scattered, grabbing trash much the same way Wu had, to begin the cleanup. 

Wu brightened. “Yes, the golden rule! The golden rule! That’s what they teach us all in school!” If he went to school, he thought. Oh well. He grabbed a broom and sweeped as the rats swirled around him, finding things to put into proper place. 

“The golden rule!” he danced, using his broom as a dance partner, “The golden rule, For treating others it’s the perfect tool!” 

The rats opened the door, and were joined by a number of pretty pigeon friends. Wu gasped, holding out his finger for one, who perched perfectly. “If you do a favor for me,” he sang to it, and it whistled the melody back, “Then you’ll really see, the happier we all will be, yes that’s the key!”

The birds were wonderfully helpful at getting up to higher places that the rats couldn’t, which meant they could really start on the dishes. They created a line, rats carrying dishes to the kitchen, which the birds would pick up, pass through a soap station, a scrubbing station, then rinse, dry, and stack. “The golden rule,” Wu said, opening the cabinets for them to put the dishes away, “The golden rule, it’s the way to make that perfect friendship fuel!”

The rats were joined by their friends the squirrels as they moved on to the bathroom. Wu’s job was mostly supervising and opening things that needed thumbs. “The golden rule,” he spun his way back to the kitchen, “The golden rule, If you don’t follow then you are a fool!” 

One of the rats seemed to be a chef, who had started making cheesy omelettes for the gathered crowd of animals to enjoy when they were done with their work. Wu took a plate, smiling at the flavor, as he headed back to the window to sigh. 

“Oh, what a strange yet wondrous place,” He sang, “If only the queen could see the face of me now. Korra will find me again, I know. It will only be a day or so.” He took a bite, “This is delicious, wow!”

Wu flitted back. Now there was only the final touches, cleaning up after the cooking, and also time for Wu to distribute some of the cheese slices. “I’ll follow the Golden rule, the golden rule, If you don’t then you are simply cruel.” 

He heard a strange barking sound, maybe from one of the rooms. But he still had a long line of animals to feed, so he just continued, “The golden rule, the golden rule, to follow it you know that you are--”

As he prepared for the finale of the song, he was interrupted. One of the doors opened and a small terrier came through, chasing off the birds and rats. 

Chaos erupted, the animals scattering in all directions. Mako and Bolin came out of their rooms, startled by the squeaking of birds and rats and squirrels. Mako ducked as a pigeon flew at his head, feathers and fur flying everywhere. 

“What in the Hell--!” 

“No, no, no!” Wu cried out, trying to keep the animals under some sort of control, “It’s ok, he’s just scared. Hey little guy, could you please stop barking?” 

“Pabu!” Bolin cried, reaching for and grabbing the terrier, holding him away from the chaos. He didn’t stop barking though. “Mako, what do we do?!”

“Get them out!” Mako shouted, grabbing the broom that had been Wu’s dance partner. He waved it around at the birds, trying to push them through the window. 

“Oh no, oh,” Wu said, his little friends pleading for help, “It’s ok, little ones, thank you! Thank you for the help!” 

“Ah!” Bolin said, grabbing rats up by the tails, “It’s trying to bite me!”

“JUST GET IT OUT!” Mako said, shoving at rats until they crawled out along the building, or into their little hole spaces. 

As the last bird retreated, Wu gave them a final wave. “Bye!”

Mako and Bolin turned to him slowly, Bolin in shock, and Mako….Mako had a rage he had thought only his aunt was capable of. 

Bolin looked between the two of them, like a panicked rodent deciding between dangers. “I’m gonna go take Pabu on a walk,” he said, taking the terrier quickly out the door.

Mako took several long breaths, but they only seemed to make him angrier. “You…” he said, “you brought rats and pigeon and-and—-VERMIN into our home?!”

“Oh no,” Wu said, “are you allergic? My great aunt is allergic, but I didn’t know-“

“THATS NOT THE POINT!” Mako yelled, “You--you just--after we opened up our HOME to you, you filled it with an INFESTATION of germ-filled, rodents and let them run wild through where we LIVE!”

Wu shook his head, virulently, “Goodness, no, they weren’t running wild at all! I supervised them as they were helping me, and I was trying to help YOU!” He smiled, hopeful that this explanation would appease him, “After all, That’s the golden rule--” he started the song up again.

“STOP! No it isn’t!” Mako yelled, “The golden rule says ‘treat others how you want to be treated. Is THIS how you’d want people to act in your house?”

“Oh, very much!” Wu said, brightening at the very thought, “I wasn’t allowed animals, but they made the process so much easier, I could have gotten through very well!”

Mako clutched his hair, looking like he would start pulling it out. “I can’t deal with this, I have work in-” he checked his small flat thing, which glowed when he touched it, “Holy fuck I’m late for work. Look. I told you that you could stay until morning, it’s morning, so, good luck….I gotta go.” 

He rushed back into his room, leaving Wu alone. He swallowed, looking around in the sudden quiet, feeling that he had done something wrong, but he still wasn’t sure what. There came a knock on the door. 

Not thinking of any reason why not, he opened the door. He was surprised to see a beautiful woman with perfectly curled hair and green eyes staring back at him. She seemed equally surprised. “Um, hello?” she said, “Who are you?”

Wu blinked, unsure what to say, “Well, hello, madame,” He bowed low and took her hand, giving it a light kiss, “I am His Majesty, Crown Prince Wu Hou-Ting of the Earth Kingdom, heir to the Earth Queen Hou-Ting, and betrothed to the Wizard Supreme Korra of the Air Temple. And if I might say, were I not already betrothed, I would ask for your hand.”

The woman withdrew her hand very quickly. “I….What?” She demanded, “Where’s Mako?” 

There was a great deal of thumping, when a half-dressed Mako came stumbling out of his room. “Asami!” He said, “What...what are you doing here?” 

“We were going to meet for Breakfast, remember?” 

“Oh, you must have one of the omelettes we have prepared!” Wu said, “My dear friend made it. Don’t mind the pawprints, he’s a rat.” 

The woman-Asami-gagged. Must not like eggs. “Wu,” Mako said, “Give us a minute.”

Mako had woken up to some bad mornings before. Living on the street, cold, and hungry. Studying for exams until he lost all sleep. That one time the heater went out in winter.

Waking up to find the homeless man you let into your house singing to literally DOZENS of rats and then standing half-dressed in front of your girlfriend who was clearly VERY angry at him was definitely on the list. “Asami I’m so sorry, things got so crazy this morning.”

“This is the third time in a row,” Asami said, like she’d rehearsed what to say. Getting sidetracked, though, she looked over his shoulder where Wu was packaging up leftovers from breakfast. “Who IS that?”

Mako looked over his shoulder. Instead of Tupperware, Wu had found an old pillowcase and was shoving the old food between the chair and the wall. One crisis at a time, Mako. “That’s...well, he says his name is Wu, but...It’s complicated, Bolin and I found him outside the building last night, and well...he’s clearly not in his right mind, and was lost so--”

“Ohh,” Asami said, switching from angry to sympathetic. Mako didn’t know how he did that, but was willing to go with it. “I should have known.”

Mako swallowed. It was hard when you weren’t sure what you did, so you didn’t know how to do it again. “Known what?”

Asami gave him one of her sweet smiles, “That you were off helping someone,” she said, “You never could resist, no matter what was standing in your way,” she held his cheek and looked...sad. Why, Mako couldn’t even begin to guess. “We can re-schedule again. I’ll text you, ok? And, um, you can delete the messages I sent.” She sighed, “It’s lovely to meet you, Wu. I know Mako will take good care of you.” 

Wu smiled, “Thank you, my lady!”

Asami chuckled, kissed Mako on the cheek, and then headed out. Mako swallowed, not sure what just happened. He looked back to Wu. 

Wu froze in place, like a scared rabbit. “I’ll head out now,” Wu said, “Thank you for everything and I’m sorry if I caused any trouble.” Wu ducked his head and started for the door.

Mako held up his hand. He could never explain to Asami that after leaving her for Wu, he then just let the man wander around the streets. “Look,” he said, “We’ll find...wherever you’re from, and we’ll get you back there, ok?” 

Wu brightened with a smile to put the sun to shame. 

Mako was very, very, VERY late for work. He didn’t think he had ever been so late to work in his life. 

If it had only been everything that happened at the house that morning, he would have been a half hour late, probably. Which sucked, but was manageable with an apology and maybe light bribery. 

However, getting Wu into work with him slowed down his travel by...Mako didn’t want to count. At some point he stopped looking at his watch because he felt like his blood vessels were due to explode. 

Wu questioned everything, fascinated by the subway, cell phones, other people’s fashions, advertisements, trash cans...LITERALLY everything. Like, How did you not even know what a TRASH can was? Though it did explain why there was a pizza box in the middle of the sidewalk when they left the building. 

Mako was no psychologist and, as it were, did not really like therapy all that much though acknowledged it’s importance after his childhood. However, with a baseline of information, he was pretty sure Wu was mentally unstable in some fashion. Delusional, maybe? He didn’t want to try and guess, or accidentally stigmatize something. 

However, he did talk a lot, and Mako was starting to put together his own sort of story. So, his great-aunt was an Evil Queen that kept him locked him away in a tower. That had to be some form of mental institution, or psychiatric ward or something, and this great aunt let him suffer there. Clearly the guy had gone through some sort of trauma, and was just...processing it weirdly. Mako was in no place to judge. 

It did give him pause, though. This tower, or ward, or whatever it was that Wu had been locked up in didn’t seem to be the greatest place. Wu showed all the hallmarks of abuse and neglect, something Mako was overly familiar with. Mako didn’t know if going back there would be the best thing for him, but that wasn’t really for Mako to decide. Except...it kinda WAS now, wasn’t it?

Mako tugged Wu along for their last stretch to the desk of his office. Wu broke off, this time to look at the office aquarium. At least Mako got him into the room.

The secretary, Song, raised his eyebrows on seeing Mako, “THERE you are!” He said, “You might as well have not showed up at all! Lin wants your head, preferably on a silver platter.”

“I know, I know,” Mako said, “Look, it’s been a crazy morning, I’ll figure things out with Beifong in a minute.” He still didn’t feel comfortable calling her Lin. “Song, I need a huge favor from you. See that guy there?” he tilted his head at Wu. 

Song looked over, watching Wu chase after a little clown fish, which surprisingly followed his finger. “That your boyfriend?”

“What?” Mako said, thrown. “No I--Song you’ve MET my girlfriend, I-nevermind, not important. Look, I found him wandering around my apartment last night, clearly lost and confused. I think he may have broken out of a psychiatric ward or something, but he’s completely harmless. Well, except when it comes to germs, but that’s not the point.” He took a breath, his whole morning had really thrown him for a loop. “The POINT is, will you look through our databases, see if you can match him up with any missing reports or whatever?”

Song sighed, looking Wu over. The fish had all gathered around the tank following his hand movements. “Do you have anything for me to search?”

Mako sighed, “His name is Wu Hou-Ting, which I feel like has to be a unique sort of name. He also mentioned a great aunt and...a fiance? I’m not sure, he mostly talks all renaissance-y.” 

Song sighed again, pulling up his resources on his computer. He was distracted, looking behind him. “On your 6,” he said.

Mako turned around, and felt the very life of him drain into the floor. “Where. The. HELL. Have. You. BEEN?!” Lin Beifong demanded. 

Mako swallowed, “Beifong, I am so, so sorry, but I’m ready now I have all my notes on the case and we have everything prepared, so when the prosecution’s ready--”

“The Prosecution’s HERE!” Beifong said, “They’re in with the judge and our CLIENT who is in there ALONE!” 

Mako’s eyes went wide “They’re--”

“Stop thinking of excuses I don’t care about and go do your job!” Lin demanded. 

Mako nodded, moving quickly. He only paused for half a second to turn back and say “Wu, stay with Song here, he’ll help you.”

Wu tilted his head at him, but nodded. 

In a flash, he was inside the Judge’s office. This wasn’t a full trial, but there were decisions that had to be made, especially in family court like this. Everyone else was there, The prosecutor, the judge, the accusers….and of course, his client, sitting all alone and small. 

Sometimes he hated doing family court cases just to have to see the injustice of the world. But his life had taught him that not seeing injustice didn’t make it disappear, only action. This client was Kai, a thirteen year old boy, and he reminded Mako of himself when he was young more than he was comfortable with. He cursed himself, being late--no matter the excuse--meant he was another person who had let this boy down. 

“Well, nice of you to finally join us,” The judge said, a large man with a thick beard and glasses, leaning back in his chair. 

“Sorry your honor,” Mako said, rushing in. He didn’t give an excuse, because the Judge would neither believe him, nor care. “I trust things have been running smoothly in my absence?”

“We’ve hit a bit of a snag, as it were,” The Prosecutor--Lee--said, looking down at Kai, “I was under the impression that if we fulfilled the terms as discussed, your client would plead guilty.”

“I’m NOT guilty,” Kai said, glaring at him. 

The adults were all quiet. Mako took a breath, “Your honor,” he said, “Would it be possible to take a brief recess to talk with my client?”

“Take a long one,” The judge said, “I have a lunch meeting in five minutes, and then my schedule’s booked until Friday. We’ll reconvene then.”

It wasn’t a question, but Mako and the prosecutor nodded anyway, taking it as their cue to leave the room. “Kai,” One of the accusers, Kai’s foster mother, said as they left, “We’ll wait in the car for you, if you like.”

Kai snorted, not meeting her eyes, “I’ll take the bus.”

The foster mother sighed, “Well...let me give you some fare for the ride then, ok?” She took out her wallet, rustling through.

“Are you going to sue me for that money too?” Kai said, glaring daggers at her for a moment before looking away. The woman looked struck, and turned away with her husband, the both of them muttering quietly. 

Mako sighed, and led Kai into his office. “You want some coffee?”

Kai raised an eyebrow, “I thought that stuff was supposed to stunt my growth or something.”

“You’re tall enough already,” Mako said, pouring them both cups. “So what happened to the plea deal we talked about.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Kai said, frowning. 

“So we’re going with the ‘Evil Twin’ defense then?” Mako said, passing him pics of security cam footage, showing Kai driving his foster parents car and then hitting a lamp post. 

Kai pushed them away, “Whatever,” he said, “They’re the assholes who are suing a KID! What a good look for them, taking a child they were supposed to care for to court. Assholes…”

“They’re not, really,” Mako said, putting the pictures back. “Oh, they’re not perfect, but you and I both know really bad parents when we see them. They’re caring, but their insurance necessitates they sue someone to get payments on their car.” Mako set the file aside, crossing his hands and looking at Kai with his full attention. “They want to give you another chance. Even after you wrecked their damn car.”

Kai fidgeted, but stayed stubborn. “We’ll see how the jury thinks of them when they see an innocent kid on the bench.”

“You’re not a kid anymore,” Mako said, “You’re a teenager, and to put it bluntly, a brown teenager. The jury MIGHT take pity on you for the whole foster sob story, but more than likely they’ll see you as a troubled teen who really needs someone to straighten you out. And it won’t be your foster parents pushing for punishment anymore, it’ll be the prosecutor and a judge and a jury, who’d rather just send you off to Juvi rather than have to think about the broken system that led you to this point.”

Kai stared up at him in horror. “You have a real way with kids, you know that?”

Mako shrugged, “I’m just telling the truth. And you know it’s the truth. So.” Mako stood. “I’ll arrange for you to talk with your foster rep and a counselor. But in the meantime, my advice is to think very hard on the words ‘Guilty, your honor.’” 

Mako got up, guiding Kai out. Kai didn’t look at him anymore. He may hate Mako, but dammit, Mako wasn’t going to let anyone take the kid to jail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about law and less about family court so just go with it ok?


	4. Look All Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako is more frustrated than ever with Wu, who is just doing his best. But now, Mako has to make a decision on how much he’ll take responsibility for this stranger in his life.

Wu looked eagerly to Song, who was looking at him...well, kind of like Mako and Bolin looked at him. In fact, everyone had been looking at him strangely in this new place. He guessed they’d never seen a Prince before. 

“So,” Song said, “Wu Hou-Ting, huh? How do you spell that?”

Wu brightened, grabbing a napkin and writing the characters for him. “ 物 後庭”

“Uh...huh,” Song said, looking at it, “Is that Mandarin? Do you know the romanized spelling of it?”

“I’m very sorry, I don’t know what you mean.” Wu said, frowning.

Song sighed, “Mako mentioned you have a fiance, maybe I can look up her name?”

“Oh yes!” Wu said, “High Wizard Korra, master of the Air Temple and Elemental Spellcaster.”

Song blinked at him rapidly. “Last name?”

“I’m not sure she has one,” Wu said, tilting his head. Song must have gotten something in his eye, it was twitching rapidly. 

“Hey, you with the fancy hair,” a voice behind him said. Wu turned to the woman who’d yelled at Mako, Beifong. “You came in with the kid, right?”

“You mean Mako?” Wu asked. It was hard to think of him as a ‘kid.’ “Yes, he was very kind to me, he allowed me to stay at his tower for the evening. He brought me here to find where I came from. Though, I think the hole I came out of must be several streets from here, I wandered quite far, I’m afraid.” 

Beifong stared him down, eyebrows furrowed. Wu had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being examined. “You’re dressed awfully fancy for a gutter rat.” She said, “Where’d you say you came from?”

“Oh, I’m a Prince from the Earth Kingdom,” Wu said, trying to be as helpful as possible, “My Great Aunt was the Queen until quite recently, Queen Hou-Ting, perhaps you’ve heard of her?”

Beifong clicked her tongue, “‘Fraid I haven’t,” She said, looking him over, “Song, try every spelling you can think of in the database. Mr. Hou-Ting, have a seat, I’d like to talk to you for a while.” 

Wu looked between her and Song, then down the hallway where Mako disappeared to. He supposed he had time to spend. 

Beifong continued staring him down. “Tell me everything about where you came from.”

Wu was more than happy to explain his life in the tower and the Earth Kingdom, and more than that, explain his last few days with Korra and Tenzin, and then finding Mako and Bolin. “And then, you see, I opened the door, and a nice lady opened up named Asami, and Mako talked to her and she seemed quite upset at him being there and not somewhere else, but she warmed up at the end and then Mako brought me here through this amazing underground tunnel. Have you heard of the subway?”

Lin, as she insisted he call her, raised an eyebrow at him, “Once or twice,” she said. Her face was mostly unreadable, but she didn’t seem angry at him, which he supposed was enough. 

There were footsteps down the hallway and Mako came walking up with a child in tow. “Oh, Mako!” Wu said, gliding over to the pair, “What a delightful young man you’ve brought with you.” He smiled brightly at the boy, who looked at Wu like he’d grown a second head. “What are you doing here? There are so many places in this world for a child to go out and have fun!” 

The boy scoffed. “Ask THEM,” He said, pointing at a couple who had stayed in the lobby. Wu had seen them arguing quietly, but he had just gotten to the part where Korra broke down the door in his story and couldn’t just stop there. 

Wu tilted his head at them curious. “You must be his lovely parents!” he said, turning to them, “Oh, I never really got to know my own parents. You two must feel so lucky to have this charming young man in your life!”

The boy scoffed, while the couple looked sad. Wu couldn’t help feeling like he’d missed something incredibly important. 

Mako grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him, but he resisted, “What’s going on?” He demanded, “AREN’T they grateful?” or were they like his great aunt was what he didn’t ask.

“It’s complicated,” Mako said, trying to pull him along, “They’re suing him,” he said quietly.

“What does that mean?” Wu said at his normal volume. 

“It means,” Mako said, still keeping his voice low, “They’re demanding money from him.”

“WHAT?!” Wu said, upset, “You mean--you mean they’re taking things away--the boy’s possessions! They’re--taking it away--!” Wu started crying, covering his face in his hands, as he imagined all the times his great aunt had taken away his things. The idea that people did that even here--!

Mako groaned, “Like I said, it’s complicated!” he kept pulling, trying to keep Wu from the horrid, horrid parents. “Stop that, come on, just...come sit over here!”

“Mako,” Lin said, getting both their attention, “Come here, would you?” 

Mako looked between Kai and Lin. “I’ll see you in a couple days, ok?” he told Kai. He then pulled Wu with him who was still sobbing. He swallowed before facing her. “Beifong, I am so incredibly sorry about this, I was just trying to help someone out, but I’ll escort him out of here now and—“

“Kid!” Lin said over him, and even Wu stopped sniffling to look up. “Take the day off.”

Mako stammered. “What—I mean you—“

“And in fact,” Lin said, “Take tomorrow too.”

Mako stood stunned. He opened his mouth over and over again, but no sound came out. Beifong sighed. “I’m serious. The judge sent in orders already that the court will reconvene Friday morning. All the other open cases can be reassigned to someone else. You need….time.” She looked over at Wu. “It was good meeting you, Mr. Hou-Ting.”

Wu had mostly recovered by the time Lin walked away. “Well, that’s nice,” Wu said, “Now you have the whole day to yourself.”

Mako did not seem to think this was nice. He was shaking where he stood, jaw clenched. “Mako?” Wu asked, worried for him. 

Instead of answering, Mako grabbed ahold of Wu’s arm tightly and pulled him to the magic elevator. “Come on.”

Mako continued dragging him once the reached the ground level, pulling out his magical tablet to look something up, though Wu couldn’t see. “Mako, careful!” Wu warned him, “Mako, MAKO! You’re hurting me!” 

Mako released him but still shook with anger. He rushed along, and Wu had to all but run to keep up. “Mako, what’s wrong?”

“YOU’RE what’s wrong!” Mako said, all but snarling. Wu blinked at him in surprise. “I try to do a nice thing, I’m always trying to help and it blows up in my damn face.”

Wu tilted his head, “But...what did I do?”

Mako actually laughed. “Are you kidding me?” he demanded, which only made Wu more confused, “You let vermin into my apartment, you nearly ruined my relationship, and NOW you’ve sabotaged my damn CAREER!” 

“But your boss gave you time off,” Wu said, still trying to keep up with him, “Isn’t that a reward?”

Mako scoffed, “She thinks I can’t handle things,” he said, “Might as well have given me a demotion on the spot! I’ve worked HARD to be considered responsible to Beifong, I can’t have her go questioning my abilities now! Do you know the MONTHS of work it will take to fix my reputation? I can’t get the good cases if I’m out of the office, and if I can’t get the good cases I can’t work my way up and it’ll take me FOREVER to make partner!” Mako began shouting and it seemed to be confusing not only Wu, but other passers by. “What are YOU looking at?!” 

The other person quickly walked away, feet clacking on the pavement. Mako had his hands balled into fists as he marched away. Wu tried to keep step but couldn’t keep more than a half step behind. “I had no idea that something good like that could be actually bad!” He said, “I’m so incredibly sorry, Mako. Why don’t we go back and I’ll talk with Lin. I already told her all about how you saved me, I’m sure I can convince her that you’re very responsible—“

“No,” Mako cut him off harshly, “No, you are not talking with ANYONE in my life ever again. I’m taking you where I should have sent you last night.”

“Oh?” Wu said, actually intrigued at the idea of a new place. “Where’s that?”

For the first time, Mako looked actually hesitant, some of his anger fading. “It...It’s a homeless shelter,” he said, “It’s to help people get back on their feet, you know, when you don’t have anything.”

“Oh, how lovely,” Wu said, “What a wonderful idea. Do you think they’ll be able to help me find Korra?”

More of the hesitance washed over Mako’s face. “Maybe.” Now Wu didn’t know him very well, but he got the distinct impression that Mako didn’t really believe that. 

Mako took him to an older building, not a tower, with a window that was boarded up and a sign that read ‘Hope Springs.’ The sign was clearly dirty and there were some people sitting outside it in sleeping bags. “Hello,” Wu said to one man, “Good to see you. Hello!” 

“Stop,” Mako said, all his anger having vanished. “Just...just go in there and talk to them, ok?”

Wu looked over at Mako. “Thank you, Mako,” he said, “Really, you’ve been so absolutely helpful and kind to me. When I find Korra, I’ll bring her over to meet you, I’m sure she’d love to thank you as well.”

Mako swallowed, “Just...just take care of yourself, ok?”

Wu nodded, and gave him a hug. “Oh, right!” he said, “Not a hugger, my mistake.” He waved to Mako and then went inside. 

There was a woman at a desk with bags under her eyes and hair frayed in a messy bun. “Hello!” Wu said, as cheerily as he could to try and brighten her day, “I’m Wu, I need some help.”

The woman looked him over and took a deep sigh. “Last name?”

“Hou-Ting,” Wu said, “Well, technically it’s the name of my great-aunt’s dynasty, but it functions well enough.”

She frowned up at him. “Have any ID?”

Wu blanked, “I don’t think so. What is it? An...an Id, did you say?”

She frowned more, but continued typing. “Mr. Hou-Ting, have you had any alcohol in the last 48 hours?”

“Ah, no,” Wu said “I wasn’t allowed any in my tower.”

“Have you ever imbibed in any illegal substances,” she continued, barely processing his answer, “such as cocaine, heroin, or other opiods?”

Wu blinked, thinking, “I can’t say I have,” he said, “Have you had any? Is it pleasant at all?”

She scowled at him. “Are you trying to be funny?”

Wu shook his head, as he did when his great aunt would demand things of him. “No, miss. Just trying to explain.” He shifted his weight, “Do you have any way of searching for someone? I’ve been trying to find my fiance Korra, the High Wizard of the Air Mountain temple, west of the Earth Kingdom, maybe you’ve heard of it?”

She stared at him for a long moment. He was almost getting used to that sort of reaction. Maybe that was typical in this land. “Ah,” she said, “You...Ah. I see.” She picked up the phone, “I’m going to call someone. You just have a seat, ok? It may be a few hours, they’re pretty backed up, but someone will come and get you, alright?”

“Oh, thank you so much,” Wu said, “I really appreciate it.” He took one of the seats that squeaked horribly under his weight as the woman made her call. 

He was sitting and watching her talk on the phone. He didnt mean to stare at her, really, but the way she kept looking at him...It was similar to how many people here would look at him, but there was something suspicious in her looks. Like...like he was going to do something malevolent. He didn’t know why, all he’d done was ask about finding his love. Even here, that couldn’t be so strange, could it?

He waited for all of a minute before he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see none other than Mako. “Oh, Mako, hi!” He smiled.

“Come on,” Mako said, offering his hand. The woman looked at him confused, “Big misunderstanding, he’s with me, he’s...my boyfriend,” he said, holding Wu by the arm. 

“We are?!” Wu asked, “Wait, Mako, really?” Mako hissed a ‘shhh’ at him as he pulled him out the door. “Mako, not that I’m not flattered, but I am engaged, what’s going on?”

“Just...just keep walking for a minute,” Mako said, and he almost sounded scared. Wu followed him out to a park, where he collapsed onto a park bench. 

Wu frowned at him. Mako...Mako didn’t make sense. One minute he’d been angry at him, and now he was scared and...something was wrong. “Mako, what’s going on?”

Mako sniffed. “They...they thought you were crazy,” He said, and no matter how hard Wu tried, he couldn’t meet his eyes, “They were calling someone to take you to a psych ward in case you were dangerous. They...they’re supposed to help, but they’re underfunded and...Well honestly they’d more than likely just throw you in jail after shuffling you around.” He pressed his palms into his eyes. “That’s why I didn’t take you before, I thought they might...but I didn’t know what to do….I STILL don’t know what to do….”

Wu sat beside him on the park bench, absorbing the information. After a moments thought, he rested his head on Mako’s shoulder. “I...can I please hug you?” he asked.

Mako finally looked up, eyes maybe a little redder. “What? Why?”

Wu smiled at him. “Because that’s twice you’ve saved me now. And I want to show you I appreciate it, so I’d like to hug you.” 

Mako sighed, “Just this once,” he said, and Wu ignored his stiff movements to wrap his arms around him. 

Mako ended up taking them for tacos from a nearby truck. Just as he had at the subway, Wu was fascinated by all the new sights and smells. Mako had to practically drag him away from the truck as he called to the cooks “You’re so VERY talented, this is one of the best things I’ve ever had! You should work with a buddy of mine in the city he’s—“

“Nope, that’s enough,” Mako said, shoving the taco into his mouth. “Please, do not recommend a rat to work the nice man’s truck.”

“But he’s really talented!” Wu said, but thankfully walked in step. 

Mako’s mind was running in a loop. He was responsible for this person, suddenly, and officially. Well, as official as could be. He apparently couldn’t stomach leaving Wu on his own, or taking him to a shelter. And as there was no one else who seemed willing to look after him, here he was. 

But he had no idea what to DO with this person. 

Running into a tornado of thoughts turned into anxiety that he knew wasn’t going to help anyone. He tried to distract himself with his phone, but that only let him see the texts Asami had left him that morning. 

—You Ok?  
—It was 8 we were meeting, right? At the diner on 5th?  
—Makooooooo  
—You want me to order for you?  
—Mako, where the hell are you?   
—I don’t know how much more I can do this….  
—I’m coming over, so start prepping because you better have the MOTHER of all excuses for ditching me. 

Mako rubbed his forehead which was starting to get tender from all the times he’d clutched it today. 

“What’s wrong?” Wu asked, mouth still full of taco.

Mako sighed, “Don’t...don’t worry about it.” He kept staring, waiting patiently for an answer. “Just stuff with Asami.”

“The nice dame from this morning?” Wu said as he finished half the food, wrapped the remainder up and stuck it in his pocket. 

“Yeah,” Mako said, allowing himself to take another bite. “I just...I messed up pretty bad today.” And several other days, but he wasn’t mentioning those right now. 

Wu looked over his shoulder, grabbing the phone to read the texts. “But she forgave you for it,” Wu said, like he was trying to figure things out, “Didn’t she?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Mako said, trying to grab his phone back.“But I just….it still doesn’t take away that I messed up.” 

Wu chuckled, shaking his head. Mako frowned at him. “Sorry,” Wu said, “I don’t mean to laugh, it’s just. You’re SO focused on making everything seem worse than it is!” 

Mako’s frown turned from annoyance to confusion. “What?” he asked, “You barely even know me.”

“Your boss gave you time off, and you insist that it’s a problem. Rats clean you’re apartment, and you’re just mad there are rats there!”

“Yeah, that is reasonable,” Mako said, “Anyone would—“

“Your girlfriend forgives you, and you’re still convinced there’s a problem!” Wu cut him off. “You live in a wonderful, magical world, Mako! And yet you INSIST on focusing on the downsides.”

Wu actually did a spin taking in the sunlight, feet scraping on the dirt path. “You and I clearly come from different worlds,” Mako said.

Wu didn’t seem to give him any mind. “Look all around, feel the wind in your hair,” Wu began singing, “Look all around, see magic in the air~”

He started getting looks. Embarrassed, Mako grabbed his arm. “That’s enough singing for one day,” he interrupted. 

“Look all around at the sky so blue,” a voice interrupted. They turned to see a busker playing out chords and smiling at Wu. 

Wu gasped in excitement. “Is this a well known song?” Mako said. 

Wu ignored him, rushing up to the busker, “Look all around at the sparks between me and you~~” They were harmonizing. 

A crowd started forming, Wu beamed at them all, the Busker breaking into accompaniment. “This world is full of wonders, magic great and small. We can always find them when we try to name them all~”

Wu knelt by a child, “What’s your wonder?” he asked in his normal voice. 

“My dolly!” she said, 

“Ice cream!” another child called out.

“Snow days!” a third said. 

Wu smiled at them all, “See how they abound~” 

He turned then to some of the parents. “My child’s laugh,” A mother sang.

“A well done graph,” A businessman joined in. 

Wu beamed, “We just had to look around~” He grabbed the man’s hand along with a young girl. He started skipping down the path and everyone joined in. 

“Seriously, I’ve never heard this song,” Mako said, reluctantly following. 

“Look all around~” Wu lead them in chorus, “at the color changing leaves. Look around at the flying birds and bees!” 

“Wait what?” Mako asked, more to himself than anyone. Now Wu was leading them in a dance, all coordinated around the center of the path. Everyone was joining, dogwalkers, artists, even actors doing shakespeare in the park. A yoga instructor brought her outdoor class over who were doing flips. “Is this a flash mob?” Mako muttered.

“The world is full of things, that we would love to say.” They all sang back to him, “If we had to name them all we’d be here all day!”

“Playing fetch!” The dogwalkers said, throwing their toys in unison as their dogs caught it. 

“A new sketch,” Artists called out, showing sketches they had done magnificently fast of Wu and his gathering. 

“They can always be found,” Wu said to them, leading some kind of circle. 

“Aligned Chakras!” The yoga students called, each doing backbends.

“Cleopatra!” The shakespeare actors said, the main actress fainting into her Antony’s arms. 

“We just had to look around!” Wu called.

People started intermingling their varied groups, a dog walker and a mother, a businessman and an artist, an actor and the yoga instructor, all taking each other’s hands and dancing in circles. 

Wu approached him, but Mako just shook his head. “I do not know this dance,” he said, “And chakras don’t even rhyme with cleopatra!” 

Wu took his hand, spinning him even though he stumbled. “If you only look in shadows, if you only look at night,” he sang to him, fully capturing him with his gaze. “Then you’ll miss the wonders that all live in the light!” 

Wu spun him faster, grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him to the end of the path. Mako’s eyebrows shot up, seeing there at the end was Asami, looking at her phone. 

“What—“ Mako started, “How did you—“

Wu handed back Mako’s phone, that he had forgotten about with all the singing and dancing. On it was a message to Asami, listing their location. 

“The world is full of wonders, from the sky to the ground,” Wu sang along with everyone else as they gathered around the fountain in dancing groups. “If you want to see them, you just need to look around!”

“Look around! Look around! Look all around!” More singers echoed.

The busker played a final note on his guitar, and the people posed for a moment, just before dispersing. 

Mako sighed, looking between Wu and Asami. “You…” he started at Wu, unsure to be angry or thankful. “You are...something else.”

Wu smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now~  
> *ahem* what, no plagiarism here. Shh.


	5. Dance Through the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako and Wu have a wonderful day together and learn to get closer.

As Wu’s fellow singers went off, smiles on all their faces, Wu couldn’t help sneaking after Mako and Asami as they took a stroll around the park. “...and I told you already, it’s fine!” Asami was saying. 

“It’s not, though,” Mako said, “I...I know I hurt you. And even if you forgive me, I want to make it up to you.”

Asami sighed heavily. “Mako, I love you. And I love how….practical you are. And how caring. But sometimes, I feel like I could use just a little bit of that magic. I sometimes…wish I could be the one you care about most.”

“You are,” Mako said, “I mean, all the stuff with my job and securing a future...thats for us.” 

Asami bit one of her brightly colored lips, which miraculously still had the makeup stay in place. She must be magic, Wu thought. “It can….be hard to see that sometimes.”

Mako sighed this time. “Well. Maybe I should take more lessons from Wu.”

That actually got Asami to laugh. “You know, when I first saw him in your apartment, I thought you were cheating on me.”

Mako’s laugh came out more like a choke. “WHAT?” he squeaked out, “Me and….What?!”

“Don’t laugh,” Asami said, smiling, “Oh I know it was paranoia, but he is handsome enough. And he has those cute doe eyes that you love.”

Mako scoffed. “I mean...just because I’m bi doesn’t mean that I’ll cheat….”

“Mako, I’m Bi too,” Asami said, “I know. I was just in a bad place this morning.” 

Wu tried to poke his way out of the bush to get Mako’s eye contact. Mako widened his eyes as he caught him. Wu mouthed ‘Ask her to dinner!’

Mako frowned at him ‘Assert your sinner?’

Wu shook his head and tried miming, ‘Ask. Her. To. Dinner!” He finished with big slurping movements like he was eating with a fake fork. 

“What are you looking at?” Asami turned, but Wu dived back into the bush. 

“Asami,” Mako said, “Bolin’s...audience interaction play thing is this weekend. Maybe we can grab some dinner and go?”

Asami smiled. “I’d like that.”

Wu gave Mako a giant thumbs up from the bushes. 

The next morning Wu didn’t call on his friends anymore, but ate the half of the omelette that he’d hidden away. Bolin and Mako came in not long after, Bolin’s terrier Pabu bounding over to Wu and settling in his lap. “Aren’t you late for work?” Bolin asked Mako.

Mako gave a yawn, “Beifong gave me the day off. When do you start rehearsal today?”

“Not ‘til 4,” Bolin said, “so we got a whole day with for the bros! and...And Wu!” Bolin said, looking over to Wu sitting on the couch. Wu smiled at him. “What are we going to do?”

Mako shrugged, “I figured I would catch up on some chores, like, maybe clean, or…” he looked around. Thanks to Wu’s escapades yesterday, the apartment was spotless. “Or something, I don’t know. Maybe could do some reading?”

“Ugh,” Bolin said, “You’re so BORING. Why would we waste a perfectly good day reading?”

“I like to read,” Wu chimed in, getting both brother’s attention. “It’s all I would do most days. Reading the same books over and over again in my tower…”

Wu tried not to look to sad. He really did love reading! It was one of his only escapes from his world. But, he knew most of the books in his tower by heart. At least Mako had some new ones he could try. Sitting here in this new tower.

The brothers exchanged a complicated series of looks Wu couldn’t understand. He often wished he had a brother or some kind of sibling when he was younger. Then he could have had a friend. But also he didn’t want to have to have a mythical sibling suffer the same as him. 

“I’ve got an idea!” Mako said, brightly, “Let’s head out to the zoo.”

Bolin gasped and beamed. “Really?”

Wu tilted his head. “What’s a zoo?”

A zoo was WONDERFUL!!! Wu couldn’t help darting back and forth across the dirt paths, rushing from exhibit to exhibit. There were animals here from all over the WORLD, Mako said. Bolin was interested mostly in getting some special zoo cups from the vendors, so stood in the long line while they wandered from exhibit to exhibit. Or rather, darted from exhibit to exhibit. “Mako, look!” Wu said, “This cheetah can run 80 miles per hour! How long is a mile?”

“Well, it’s…” Mako started, but Wu was already distracted. 

“I’ve read about these!” Wu said, looking out, “It’s a unicorn!” 

A Couple of school children looked at him funny. “Uh,” Mako said, “its called a Rhinocerous.”

Wu shook his head. “No, no, I know this one, mister you can’t run it past me. THAT is a unicorn. She’s a beautiful white horse with a big horn on her nose.” He gives Mako a wink, “You really thought you could slip one past me there, huh?”

“It’s not a horse,” The little school girl said to her, “It’s big and fat and ugly.”

“Well now, I wouldn’t be saying that too loud next to someone with a horn that big,” Wu said to her with a wink. The girl eyed the exhibit walls, pretty sure they were there and would keep her safe, but wanting to check. “And being big and fat doesn’t mean you’re not beautiful! That’s armor, all the best knights wear it to protect themselves and save beautiful young princes and princesses, like yourself.”

She squinted at him, trying to figure out what his game was. “You’re weird.”

“Well, nothing wrong with that either,” he said, “Oh look! A questing beast!”

He rushed off, “Wu!” Mako called after him, but followed nonetheless. Some of the children followed as well. 

The placard by the beast said ‘giraffe’ but Wu knew a questing beast when he saw one. “See there, it has the neck of a snack, spots of a leopard, and feet of a stag. That there is a questing beast, meant to give great fortune to those who manage to hunt one. Though I rather like appreciating them here while they’re alive instead.”

“It’s not a snake,” one of the kids said, and this started a rousing debate about each of the parts of the animal to determine if they were like others. Wu didn’t need to debate, he just knew, watching a mother and child beast walk alongside one another. 

The baby trotted up to him and met his eyes. They were too far to reach, but Wu stretched his hand out anyway, and the child stretched it’s long neck. His mother nudged him and they moved along. “That’s...wild,” Mako said, slightly in awe. Wu smiled over to him, the moment over, but caught something over his shoulder.

“Kids! There’s a dragon over there!” he said, and he rushed off, the pack of children and Mako in tow. “See Mako? This one says ‘dragon’ right on the placard.”

“Yeah, a komodo dragon!” Mako said, as if this nullified his statement. Wu just stared at him. “It doesn’t have wings or breathe fire or anything!”

“Well he’s still a dragon,” Wu said, looking over the placard, “See here, it says they can take down prey well over twice their size. And isn’t that fearsome enough of a dragon for you?” 

“Whoa, really?” one of the kids said, and suddenly they were pushing and pulling at one another to catch a glimpse of a lizard that was mostly just sitting on a rock. 

Mako smirked at them. Wu looked over, but he seemed genuinely amused rather than mocking. “Hey,” he said, “you want to check out the aviary?”

“Oh, yes!” Wu said, brightening, and he could see it echo on Mako’s face. “Will they have pigeons like the ones I met?”

“Not sure,” Mako said, “But I think you’ll like them.”

As they walked in, Wu brightened at the sheer number of birds of every shape and size, fluttering about. The zoo had a cage to walk through so birds could fly right over their heads, and made them feel like they were walking through the jungle. 

Wu lead the array of children through, all now interested in what other magical creatures Wu would find. A bird landed beside them, a little red and blue, and squawked, making the children laugh.

Wu smiled at it, “Aaah aaaah ahh ahhh aaaah” He sang a simple scale for the bird. The bird responded, repeating the song back to him. “Aaah ah ah aaaaaah” he switched it up a little, the bird quickly echoing to the children’s delight. More birds quickly landed beside it. 

Wu closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds. He let himself sing, not words, just notes, and listened as the birds all echoed him, creating music even with the flapping of their wings, the clink of the cage, the chatter of the guests. 

“Wu,” he heard Mako say beside him, but it only added to his song. He swayed as he stood, letting the music take him, “Wu, you gotta stop, you-“

“Hey you!” A new voice broke in, stopping the music, “Stop that!”

Wu opened his eyes. Not just a flock, but ALL the birds had come down throughout the aviary to join in his song. As he stopped and the woman came stomping forward, they all scattered away again. 

The children weren’t laughing anymore, just staring at him in wonder. So were the other guests, along with Mako. “Did I do something wrong?”

Now that the song had stopped, the woman seemed more curious instead of angry. “Never seen animals act like that…” she muttered, before coming back to her more official role, “Sir, I’m sorry we can’t have you disturbing the animals like that.”

Wu tilted his head at her. “I didn’t realize they were disturbed, they seemed happy,” he said, “Are you their caretaker?”

She took a deep sigh. “I’m the engagement officer,” she said, and she smiled down at the children, “And it’s time for YOU all to head over to the primate exhibit for our presentation. Your teachers are waiting for you there, go on!” 

Reluctantly, the children allowed themselves to be herded away, leaving Wu and Mako. Bolin finally rejoined them, an arm full of specialized zoo cups with a series of animal straws. “What’d I miss?” 

Mako felt conflicted as Bolin and Wu led the way towards the primate exhibit for whatever show they were putting on there. There was something...strange about Wu. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. But the thing was, park goers didn’t just burst into coordinated song and dance. Neither did birds. 

The pieces weren’t coming together. No explanation made sense. And yet, he couldn’t help trusting Wu. There was nothing malicious about him, simply nonsensical. He didn’t know what to do with nonsense. 

He couldn’t deny also a sense of wonder, watching Wu harmonizing with the animals. He was so...at peace. So happy. So at ease. Mako was pretty sure he’d never been at ease. He never experienced the wonder that Wu brought with him so easily, like a favored backpack full of everything he could need to face the world. 

Mako wasn’t built for wonder, he was built for survival and protection, shielding his loved ones from the harsh nature of reality. He didn’t fully understand how Bolin would wander off into pretend with his acting, or Asami’s fascination with a new project and all its possibilities. He wasn’t used to feeling this way, and he had absolutely no idea what to do with it. 

His mind circled the topic as Wu and Bolin watched fascinated with the engagement officer’s performance, showing off the amazing things about different monkeys to the children and other attendees. 

He was pulled out of his trance as Bolin elbowed him. “What?” he asked, and noticed the engagement officer was pulling people from the crowd. 

“They want volunteers for an obstacle course,” Bolin said, “You should volunteer!” 

Mako scowled at him, “Do it yourself.”

Bolin shook his head, “Orders from the director, not supposed to do any strenuous activity before this weekend. But you totally can! Show off your stuff!”

Mako rolled his eyes, resisting as best he could. Then Wu piped up, “It looks really hard, can you really do that?” 

If he had said it as a prompt like Bolin would have, a challenge, Mako might have been able to resist. But he was being earnest. Mako sighed, feeling his resolve crumble. “I mean. I can, probably. but…” He made a mistake. He looked into Wu’s eyes. He was so eager to see it, Mako felt his arm rising of it’s own accord. 

“Aaand, you there, come on up!” the Engagement woman said, calling him forward as the last volunteer. They were all young, dextrous people, getting up in a line before a rope course. “Now, on the other side of this glass we have Margaret, our Capuchin monkey. Let’s see if any of our volunteers here can beat her.” 

Mako was pretty sure this was a trick and that the answer was ‘no’ but he was willing to try it out. As soon as the woman said “Go!” he was off like a shot, climbing up the rope ladder as fast as he could. 

The flexibility of the rope made it tricker rather than easier to climb, at least for him. Margaret the Capuchin was already to the top, but he was at least beating all his human competitors. Then he had to swing from the hanging ropes (over some mats) and make it over a rope bridge. 

It had been a while since he’d done anything like this, his muscles lighting up with excitement and competition. He enjoyed his job, but this was more what his body was made for. Working out with his dingy dumbells in his apartment or going for a morning jog wasn’t anything like this. He was going to win, and he loved it. 

He landed hard on the ground, looking over. Margaret the Capuchin, as expected, won with ease because she was made for this. However, Mako beat the other competitors by a lot, the closest of them only halfway across the rope bridge. Mako smiled over to where the crowd was cheering, Bolin cheering and yelling “That’s my brother!” while Wu…

Wu was staring at him in wonder. Mako thought maybe that’s what he must have looked like, watching Wu sing to the animals, though he couldn’t be sure. Wu was applauding with everyone else, but his gaze meeting Mako’s eyes made him feel...warm. 

“How did you do that?” Wu asked, as he returned to the stands, letting the engagement officer conclude her show and presentation.

Mako shrugged, “Bolin and I did a bunch of stuff like that when we were kids.”

“‘A bunch of stuff,’ listen to you!” Bolin said, “We were expert parkour artists!”

“Artists might be a stretch,” Mako said, but couldn’t hide his smile. He admitted to himself alone that he sometimes missed the adrenaline rush of being a kid on the street doing stunts. “We were runners as our first real job, so we learned ways to cut corners. We started filming it and one of our videos went viral, so we were able to pull in some real money for a little while. 

“And paid for your whole college!” Bolin said proudly. 

‘Whole’ was maybe an exaggeration, he still had to work. “Would pay for yours too if you ever got off your butt.”

“Eh,” Bolin said, “I learn better by doing.”

Mako took in a deep sigh. He knew Bolin didn’t really do well in a school environment, but still he worried for him. 

“That’s very impressive, both of you!” Wu said, smiling up at Mako, “You’re a true knight.”

Mako didn’t really know how to take that, so he just smiled. 

They walked around for a little longer before Bolin had to head out for work. “You need me to pick you up?” Mako asked, as he always did when Bolin got on his bus.

“No!” Bolin called back, as he always did. Mako usually came for him anyway. 

And then he was left once again with Wu, who was standing awkwardly, like a lost duckling waiting for Mako to do something so he could too. “Hey,” he said, “I want to take you somewhere.”

“What is this place?” Wu asked, eyes glowing in the neon lights. 

“It’s a karaoke bar,” Mako smiled, pulling him inside. “It’s a place where you can sing.”

Wu turned the brightest smile on him, and Mako felt his breath hitch. “Come on.”

They had to wait a bit as there was a line where they’d signed up. Wu was dancing along with each pop song that played, which was exactly the sort of energy the singers could feed on and use in their performances. Mako just watched, as he normally did, but finally it came time. “Mako,” Wu stopped him, as they made it to the stage, “I don’t know the words.”

“It’s alright,” Mako said, “They’ll be on the little tv there, you see? Mine are in blue, yours are yellow, together it’s green.” Wu still looked nervous. “Just follow my lead.”

The chords started and Mako’s words came up on the screen “Boss has been on me all week, A boring job and my future looks bleak. But the weeks over, said and done, now it’s time for the girls to go have fun.”

So sue him, Mako liked 80’s pop dance songs. And this was an obscure duet between the top female artists of the decade. He thought Wu would enjoy. Wu focused hard, reading the yellow words, “Boys keep coming up, hounding me, Saying come on over when you get free. They don’t get it, today’s for us! No more boys, no more work, no more fuss.”

Mako smiled as they sang in sync, “We’re gonna dance through the night! We’re gonna party like it’s the rest of our lives.” Mako couldn’t help it, he started swaying and bouncing with the music. Wu smiled, quickly joining him. “We’re gonna dance until dawn! We’re gonna sing like this all night long!”

“Tonight we live our lives the way we want,” Mako continued, now switching off verse lines with Wu. 

Wu took over perfectly, really getting into the groove, “Standing tall, proud and confidant!” 

“Being with you, girl, I feel so free!” Unconsciously, Mako emulated the music video, pointing over at Wu. 

Wu, who didn’t know the song, reached out and took Mako’s hand, holding it. “Dancing next to you is where I always want to be.”

Mako swallowed uncomfortable, unsure if he should pull away. He nearly missed the chorus, “We’re gonna dance through the night! We’re gonna party like it’s the rest of our lives.” Wu started really dancing now that he knew the words, and he pulled Mako into it. “We’re gonna dance until dawn! We’re gonna sing like this all night long!”

The song broke out into it’s guitar solo, the lyrics screen going to just flashing colors. Wu blinked, unsure, “What do we do?” he asked. 

Mako shrugged, finding himself letting loose, “Dance with me,” he said, surprising even himself. 

Whatever it was they did could only loosely be called ‘Dancing.’ It was more holding each other’s hands and bouncing around to the music. Mako knew they must look ridiculous, but the crowd was eating it up.

Finally, the chorus came back, slowly fading off into silence instead of having a solid end. Mako and Wu sang it best as they could until the music was gone. Mako started pulling him off the stage. “What are you doing?” Wu asked, “I thought we were going to dance through the night.”

Mako smiled, “It’s just a song,” he said, and squeezed his hand, “Come on, I’ll get us some food.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! My tumblr is dork-empress.


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